Verus Terentius
Name: Verus Terentius Gender: Male Race: Imperial Age: 59 Birthsign: The Apprentice Appearance: Verus had never been a handsome man. In his youth, he had a greasy, vaguely rat-like look to him. Of slightly less than average height, and with unkempt black hair that looked like it had never been cleaned, Verus appeared to most like scum, certainly not worthy of interaction. Since then, though, he has aged, and his appearance has shifted somewhat. With dirty, matted, grey hair, he would look like an old beggar if not for the quality of his clothes. His blue eyes, once the only bright thing about him, have dulled. He looks, acts, and is weary. Of particular note are the series of wounds he has collected while in the service of the Brotherhood. The most visible of these include the horrible limb in his right leg, which requires him to use a cane to walk. This came from having said leg smashed repeatedly by an Orc with a warhammer. The other most notable wound is the series of burn scars across the right side of his face, which came about when a sword enchanted with fire was, as Verus had thought at the time, narrowly avoided. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Armor/Clothing: As one of the few true masters of Illusion magic, Verus can shift his appearance with merely a thought, though it does require some concentration. As such, he only ever wears one set of clothes, but they can appear wildly different depending on where he is. When not under an illusion, however, he typically looks similar to this. Mental Description: The best way to describe Verus is as an actor. His real personality almost never surfaces, except in his thoughts. He learned how to act as a child, having grown up homeless in Anvil and acting as a conman there early on his life. So, his personality can shift rapidly and without warning depending on the situation. However, it can be said that his real personality is paradoxically rather kind, despite his occupation. He has a particular love of children and orphans, knowing what it’s like to grow up on the street, and typically gives beggars money whenever he can. However, he has no issue whatsoever with hardening his heart and killing those same people if the need arises. In the end, in his view, nothing is as important as himself. Not only that, but he’s a very manipulative person, and has no problem with tweaking someone’s emotions with his abilities for his own benefit. His typical way of acting, however, is actually a bit cruel, and this has been worsened by some of the events he's gone through in the past few years. While his real personality will occasionally appear, for the most part, he acts true to his appearance, an annoyed and frustrated old man. Abilities: Verus is one of the few true masters of Illusion magic, and is so skilled at it that he can twist a person’s view of reality on a whim. However, he works best when given time to observe whoever he is fighting or manipulating, so that he can better grasp how to use his abilities on them. Subtlety is key to his powers, and he detests brute force methods. A slight tweak of a person’s vision to make them think that swing will go a few inches farther, a sudden noise in a person’s ear to make them turn around, the sight of something moving in the darkness, as a sudden distraction, all these things are tools that Verus loves to use. However, he can also influence a person’s emotions, given the time to study them. He can make them angry, to the point they can’t think straight, sad enough to suddenly break down in sobs or drown themselves in alcohol, and happy enough to get up and dance. However, he usually prefers less obvious manipulations; a slight push on paranoia, or just enough of a spell to make someone more willing to trust him. The sort of thing no one would ever notice or find strange. All of this, however, is tied into his ability to affect one person. He can cast spells on multiple targets, but with a significantly weaker effect, especially if he has no preparation beforehand. And when he his confronted with a surprise, or is attacked directly before he can use his normal methods, he tends to panic and simply throw all of his power into one massive push at a person’s mind and senses. This can be incredibly effective if the person isn’t expecting it, and usually results in the person’s mind being essentially censored. If the person is expecting it, however, they can shrug off such a spell, since such spells are typically haphazardly thrown together. And if that happens, Verus is well and truly out of luck. Weapons: He uses a dueling cane in moments where all else has failed him. But if things get that far, he’s probably going to die. Bio: Verus grew up an orphan in Anvil; that much of his childhood, at least, is known. However, he refuses to elaborate of the reason for his orphaning, if, indeed, he even knows it. Eventually, however, he turned to scamming unwitting citizens to make his way. During the process of this, he made one too many enemies and a few goons were sent to “remind him of his place.” Verus managed to kill one, but not without taking a sword through the abdomen. He managed to survive after hiding, but was bleeding out when a certain member of the Brotherhood found him in an alley. A lot has changed since then. Verus has grown older and wiser, collected a lot more wounds and made a lot more mistakes, and picked up an apprentice who is probably going to kill him eventually. But, life is short, right? No one knows that better than an assassin, after all. Normal Theme Combat Theme Category:Characters Category:The Knight, the Sword, and the Sentinel Category:Imperials Category:The Dark Brotherhood